Latest USA Headlines
All the headlines from our USA Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Max Capital Posts $94 Million Q4 Loss; $175 Million FY Loss
Feb 12 2009 // The Bermuda-based Max Capital Group reported a net loss for the three months ended December 31, 2008, of $94.1 million, or $1.67 per diluted share, compared to net income of $62.4 million, or $1.00 per diluted share, for...
Willis Fourth Quarter Net Income Falls 35% to $62 Million
Feb 12 2009 // Willis Group Holdings, the third largest global insurance broker, said Wednesday that its fourth-quarter net income fell about 35 percent, hurt by declines in foreign currency and integration costs from a recent...
S&P Lowers Kingsway’s Ratings to ‘B’; on CreditWatch/Negative
Feb 11 2009 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has lowered its long-term counterparty credit and senior unsecured debt ratings on Toronto-based specialty insurance provider Kingsway Financial Services Inc. S&P also...
Report: AIG in Talks to Sell Auto Insurance Unit to Zurich
Feb 11 2009 // American International Group is in advanced talks to sell its U.S. auto insurance unit to Swiss insurer Zurich Financial Services AG, a source familiar with the matter said Tuesday. The auto insurance business is expected...
Willis to Release Q4 Earnings Today; Conference Call Details
Feb 11 2009 // Willis Group Holdings Limited will release earnings for the fourth quarter ending December 31, 2008 after the market closes on Wednesday, February 11, 2009. Copies of the release will be available soon thereafter within...
Consumers Miss More Debt Payments; Lenders Move to Stem Losses
Feb 10 2009 // U.S. consumers are falling further behind on their debt payments even as both borrowers and lenders struggle to keep the debt burden from getting even heavier in the face of a worsening recession and employment picture, a...
Scruggs to Appear in Court Next Week
Feb 9 2009 // Disbarred attorney Richard “Dickie” Scruggs, who is serving a five-year prison sentence in a high profile judicial bribery conspiracy, is scheduled to appear in federal court in Mississippi Tuesday. Scruggs was...
Treasury to Approve TARP Bailout Funds for Life Insurance Companies
Feb 9 2009 // Insurance companies that applied for capital injections from the government’s $700 billion financial bailout fund could get approval as soon as Monday, two sources familiar with the matter said Saturday. Some...
Business Moves
Feb 8 2009 // Liberty Mutual, Wausau Liberty Mutual Group, which sells insurance both direct and through independent agents, is discontinuing direct distribution to mid-sized businesses and now plans to distribute its commercial...
People
Feb 8 2009 // Linda Timmons has been promoted to director of communications for the Independent Insurance Agents of Texas (IIAT). In this position, Timmons will manage the organization’s internal and external communications,...
USC Geographers Create U.S. ‘Death Map’ of Natural Event Fatalities by County
Feb 8 2009 // University of South Carolina geographers have produced a map of natural-hazard mortality in the United States. The map, featured in the International Journal of Health Geographics, gives a county-level representation of...
U.S. Lawmakers Vow More Food Safety Funds As Peanut Recalls Set Record
Feb 6 2009 // Lawmakers vowed this week to press for stronger food safety laws and more money for inspections as the list of recalled peanut products surpassed 1,000 in an ongoing national salmonella outbreak. “There is an...
California’s W. Brown to Underwrite Aviation Insurance For Catlin US
Feb 5 2009 // Catlin Group Ltd., an international specialty property/casualty insurer and reinsurer, reported that W. Brown & Associates Insurance Services will underwrite general aviation insurance for clients nationwide on behalf...
Two Florida Insurance Scam Artists Lose Mail Fraud Appeal
Feb 5 2009 // Two men sentenced to federal prison for cheating investors out of more than $100 million in an insurance scheme have failed to convince an appeals court that they were unfairly convicted of mail fraud. The 11th U.S....
Congress May Probe AIG Pricing, Pay Practices
Feb 5 2009 // An influential U.S. congressman, concerned that American International Group Inc’s $150 billion federal bailout could be undermining the broader U.S. insurance market, is digging into claims that the insurer is...
U.S. Senate Rejects Cutting Company Repatriation Tax Rate
Feb 4 2009 // The U.S. Senate Tuesday defeated a provision to slash the tax rate on profits that companies bring into the United States from overseas, voting not to include it in the economic stimulus package. The measure would have...
ING to Sell Part of ING Canada
Feb 4 2009 // A unit of European financial services giant ING Groep NV is selling a C$1.75 billion (US $1.41 billion) chunk of its ownership stake in ING Canada, the companies said Tuesday. The ING Groep subsidiary will sell C$850...
Ratings Roundup: Aflac, Scottish Re (U.S.), Hanover Fire, Omega
Feb 4 2009 // A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the financial strength rating (FSR) of ‘A+’ (Superior) and downgraded the issuer credit ratings (ICR) to “aa-” from “aa” of American Family Life Assurance...
Recession, Credit Crisis Stall Louisiana’s Hurricane Recovery Bonds
Feb 2 2009 // The U.S. recession and credit crisis have stalled a financing program created to help Louisiana recover from 2005’s devastating hurricanes, the southern state’s secretary for economic development told...
Marine Insurance Group Sees ‘Tough Times’ for Insurers
Feb 2 2009 // According to Deirdre Littlefield, president of the International Union of Marine Insurance (IUMI), “While the insurance industry may be more insulated from failure than others in the financial sector, it will not...
